Sheamus: Lawler's Heart Attack Was a "Real Fright"

Share.

IGN talks to the World Heavyweight Champion about his Night of Champions match with Del RIo and Jerry Lawler's near-death heart attack on RAW.

By Matt Fowler

This Sunday, the WWE holds its annual Night of Champions pay-per-view - a night where every single WWE title is on the line. CM Punk will defend the WWE Championship against John Cena, Kofi Kingston and R-Truth will defend the WWE Tag Team Titles against Kane and Daniel Bryan and World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus will face down Alberto Del Rio once last time.

I had a chance to talk to Sheamus about his upcoming title match with Del Rio, their lengthy feud, his porcelain-white skin, and last Monday's frightening RAW from Montreal where Jerry Lawler suffered an on-air heart attack. Sheamus, among others, was one of the WWE Superstars who had to head out the ring and perform while EMTs were working to revive Lawler backstage.

IGN: This will be the third pay-per-view in a row where you've defended your title against Alberto Del Rio. That doesn't happen very often in modern wrestling. Can you talk a little about this feud?

Sheamus: [laughs] Is it the third pay-per-view already? Time flies, Matt. It really does when you're having fun. Yeah, it rarely happens, as you said. This feud actually started off back after WrestleMania when Del Rio, who had been out for quite a while, came back and started to interrupt me when I was the new World Heavyweight Champion. But it's been a really cool thing for me, and a good feud for me, because we learn a lot from each other in the ring and it keeps going back and forth. I even got to drive around in a Ferrari, which was a lot of fun. [laughs] It sure beat my Hyundai that I had back in Dublin. But this feud's been good for both of us, since both of us were sort of in the same boat when we came to WWE. We both found success rather quickly here. I became WWE Champion back in '09 and Del Rio won the Royal Rumble and Money in the Bank and became WWE Champion himself so these matches have been about two guys who rose up the ranks very quickly. I've enjoyed it. I've enjoyed the way the storyline's progressed. With each one of us constantly trying to get the better of the other, and out-do each other over the past couple weeks.

IGN: Now, for your match on Sunday at Night of Champions, the Brogue Kick has been banned. But you have more finishers than anyone else in the company. When will you have enough finishers, sir?

Sheamus: [laughs] I really don't know, man. I'm like a kid in a candy store. You can never have too many finishers. I think Undertaker has 17. The thing about the Brogue Kick though, and why it's caught on, is that it's something that I've really tried to establish over the past three years. It's a great finisher that can come out of nowhere. That's a rare thing in the WWE. John Cena obviously comes to mind too. He can literally pick up a crane and hit the AA. We've seen him use it on Big Show and the like. Randy Orton's RKO is like that too. It's been so successful because can come out of nowhere. And the Brogue Kick is kind of the same way. It can take down anyone, anywhere no matter their size. I've got other finishers, yeah, but that's really my main move. But I'll just have to figure out another way to beat Del Rio. The Cloverleaf's new and it's been very successful as of late so I might go for that one.

IGN: What did you think about the segment from a few weeks ago when Punk called the World Heavyweight Title the #2 belt in the company?

Sheamus: You know, it's funny that came up because we were all doing a THQ event back in Los Angeles during SummerSlam and it was a roundtable discussion group for the WWE 13 game and Jim Ross talked about the WWE Championship is and how important it is to the business. And how it was the one. And it just reminded me of how important the World Heavyweight Championship is to me. And how it's just as important in the company. I don't see how Punk can call the World Heavyweight Championship a secondary because in my opinion, from what I've seen, people like Flair, Undertaker, Edge, Triple H, John Cena and even Punk himself have held this championship. And this championship was the one attached to RAW if you just look back a couple of years ago. So I don't believe that. I also object to the fact that Punk calls himself the "Best in the World" even though he's never faced me. Until he's beaten me, I don't think he can call himself the best champion or the "Best in the World."

Sheamus talks the burdens of being so pale, and Jerry Lawler's heart attack on RAW, on page 2...